Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Terrorists declared war against their government of Pakistan in 2007. The fighting had earlier simmered in the NW tribal areas bordering eastern Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda militants fled after the 9/11 in 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA on the Twin Towers and other places.

The Taliban are made up of many Pashtun or Pashto tribesmen and started fighting during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980's. It was then that the USA trained and armed them. It became a movement and spread throughout Afghanistan in the early 90s forming their own government and ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until December 2001. Kandahar was their capital. It gained diplomatic recognition from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Many Pashtuns claim to be from the Lost Tribes of Israel back when Assyria attacked Israel in 721 BCE and carried away the best of the population of young men who would make good slaves. Though they are all Muslims today, a few are even are supportive of Israel. Israel's foreign ministry started funding research to look into the Pashto roots being from the Lost Tribes. Dr. Shalva Weil is a Senior Researcher at The Research Institute for Innovation and Education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and had been researching the Pashtos. The last king of Afghanistan, a Pathan, Zahir Shah who was king until 1973, claimed to be from the tribe of Benjamin as many Pathans have claimed as their roots. Others have claimed to be from the tribe of Ephraim. I'm afraid that when the Assyrians had attacked, they most likely took whoever was closest, and it could have been a mixed tribal group at the time fighting against the Assyrians.

Ephraim and Benjamin's land were neighbors. This is why Judah was also left with some Benjaminites being the last surviving tribe and the southern part of Israel that had broken off when Solomon died to be Judah.

2012 and PashtoMalala Yousafzai in Mingora, Pakistan of Swat Valley, a student and an activist for females getting an education, was shot in the head but survived while traveling home from school. She received a Nobel Prize for demanding education for girls in Pakistan. Her father was the principal of the school and backed her. "When she was 14, Malala and her family learned that the Taliban had issued a death threat against her. Though Malala was frightened for the safety of her father—an anti-Taliban activist—she and her family initially felt that the fundamentalist group would not actually harm a child.

In December 16, 2014, the nation of Pakistan was shocked by the Taliban attacking a school in Peshawar which was run by the army, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 141 schoolchildren were massacred. Pakistan's NW population are now happy that the government has finally declared war to the end against the Taliban after executing this massacre.

July 27, 2015 another military backed school was attacked by the Taliban and over 100 students killed in Peshawar. They were attacked during the time of taking exams.

The vast majority of Pakistanis living in the most peaceful east had been oblivious to the conflict that was taking place in their region since 2007 when militants declared war against the government. The school, situated in the western provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, provinces that makes up the majority of Pashtuns. They are the 3rd largest ethnic group and number around 30 million of the country's 200 million population. Pakistan is the 2nd largest Muslim country with Indonesia being #1 in Muslim population. 97% of Pashtuns are Sunni and some are Shi'a.

The Taliban have been attacking the government forces and civilians for the past 7 years and have killed more than 50,000. A Pashtun politician was killed by a Taliban bomb in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Swat valley in 2007. Falaknaz Asfandyar is his widow and said, "Had a smaller attack taken place earlier in the Punjab province, the reaction would have been far quicker and more extensive. We Pakistanis have become so immune to the conflict. I just hope they won't forget this...that we won't need an even bigger tragedy."

Pashtuns are represented in Pakistan's political structure including the powerful military. In the past years its fighters were split between supporting government forces and supporting the Taliban militants. The civilians were caught in the middle. They are dependent on the army to fight the militants living around them. Then they find themselves in mass evacuations and harsh treatment when 10s of 1,000s of troops move in to retake the territory.

President Obama said he had planned to cut the number of US troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015 from 9800 to 5000 and then leave completely by the end of 2016 when his office is ended. He has since changed his mind which Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is happy about. Obama said he does plan to pullout at the end of 2016, however but the troops will stay through 2015.

While in power, it enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, an interpretation of which leading Muslims have been highly critical. The Taliban were condemned internationally for their brutal treatment of women. The majority of the Taliban are made up of Afghan Pashtun tribesmen. The Taliban's leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism, and many also strictly follow the social and cultural norm called Pashtunwali.I do not think that any Talibaner could be from the Lost Tribes. They have gone so afar from the principals of Judaism, even in the days of 721 BCE, that no one would want to claim them. To attack children, and females at that, is something only cowards would do.

They are teeming up with Iran to fight against ISIS, someone worse-if possible-than they are. Iran and the Taliban used to be deadly enemies. “A Muslim won’t break a commitment,”An ex-Taliban who recently switched allegiance to ISIS, is Mullah Khan Muhammad Noorzai. Noorzai declared, “The Taliban are not true Muslims, and not mujahideen [holy warriors] either. Now our jihad against the ignorant so-called Taliban will go on forever.” Update: 7/29/15 It was announced this morning on NBC that Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been declared dead and possibly has been these past 2 years.

About Me

I'm the American Nadene Goldfoot. Another lives in England. I'm the one who went to Israel and lived there from 1980 to the end of 1985. I'm an amateur genealogist for our family who also has expanded interests into dna. I now spend my time writing in my 3 blogs teaching about Israel and defending her position.

On my tree I have found Rabbi Samson Wertheimer, RASHI, and King David through DNA testing. Another branch holds the kings and queens of England by genealogy. When current events become deplorable, I turn to this hobby for a lift. It's all whetted my appetite for ancient history of Israel.